A veil of rain poured down from the darkened heavens onto the parched pasture below. The droplets speckled the coat of an aging chestnut mare grazing on the dry grass. She lifted her head, grass still hanging from her lips, and look up at the weeping sky. The rain showered her icy, clear droplets that soaked into her red hide and mane. After suffering days of intense, summer heat, the rain was a much welcomed sign to Brigha, but after awhile, the tapping of rainfall on her skull became an annoyance.
Brigha snorted and shook her mane, which was now gathered in wet strands. She spied a lonely tree rooted in the field, catching the rain in its canopy as it sprawling branches reached toward gray sky. It seemed like a good place to get out of the rain, so the aging mare started towards its. The tree did a fair enough job of sheltering Brigha from the shower, with only an occasional droplet rolling off its emerald leaves. She stood still, her head level with her body, done with grazing, and her ears relaxed as she watched the clearing with dull eyes.
She had been on her own for so long. The loneliness was beginning to eat away at her heart, at her will. Brigha had isolated herself from other horses as bitterness grew in her once pure heart, like a gnarled weed that strangled the sweet grass. She cursed her body, she cursed it for refusing to carry foals, for never going into heat. She cursed the other mares too, with their little colts and fillies prancing by their sides. She hated them. She hated her womb. It made her heart ache, to see dams with their foals. Motherhood was something Brigha longed for. She wanted it so badly, maybe even more than any other mare, but it was never meant to be. What use was she when she cannot do the one thing she had been built to do, and how could any stallion cherish a barren mare?
Ah, the rain. There was something about it that made Raxa feel so different from how she normally projected herself. The rain gave her solitude. Most horses might try to avoid the rain by hiding under the thick canopies of the trees within their kingdoms, but Raxa was no such horse. She liked the rain, enjoyed it even. It gave her time alone, for she could go out wandering, letting the rain wash over her coat. Let it wash over her oddly-patterned fur, clear away the pain that had left countless open, bleeding wounds on her heart.
Not that anyone knew of such wounds, and Raxa had no plans for that to happen. No horse needed to concern themselves with her wellbeing; she could take care of herself. She'd been doing it for years. It was why she was still a little peeved with Jedi when he'd followed after her to investigate why she had a wound on her hindquarters after she'd been attacked by a big cat.
The mare lifted her head, turning her eyes skyward. Her normally blue eyes almost seemed to darken in color, to a near gray, matching the rain-clouded sky above her. Closing her eyes a moment as the rain trickled down her muzzle and neck, Raxa sighed, quite content with how things were going at this moment in time.
Raxa put her head back down, intent on reaching for a mouthful of grass, but in doing so, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. Something... red? No, she knew of no red creatures, and it was normally horses that hung in this area. Any predators normally possessed tan coats, like the cougars around here, or darker, like the mountain lions that sometimes crept down for a fresh meal. Wolves were around, but they normally left the horses alone, instead going for other ungulates that existed here.
So, that left horse. And in this case, the horse was probably a chestnut, for Raxa didn't sense anything odd when she glimpsed the horse from her peripheral. Turning to look, her blue eyes picked out the chestnut mare hiding beneath the trees, probably for shelter from the rain.
Deciding to see what this was about, and surprising herself in that she actually cared what the mare was doing there, Raxa made her way over to the horse. Once she reached the cover of the trees, the brindled mare gave her neck and head a shake to get her mane and forelock out of her eyes.
Once she'd done that, Raxa's electric blue eyes focused on the mare, "I've always preferred the rain. Then again, I know some horses don't. Not exactly the best hiding place either," she noted, feeling a drop of rain fall onto her ear.
"Why are you hiding out here? No home yet?" Raxa could be blunt, straight forward, and a bit brash, but that was just her natural attitude. She'd never made an effort to be overly nice, but civil, at least, which is why she wasn't yelling at this mare and speaking nicely to her instead.
08-13-2016, 01:58 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-13-2016, 02:05 AM by Brigha.)
Brigha was pulled from her dark thoughts when the brindle mare entered her vision. She eyed her bitterly as she too, took shelter under the tree. Out of all the trees in this field, why this one? Brigha found her presence annoying, like the rain she claimed to love. Although, it was nice to hear a voice again, however, she'd prefer it to talk about something other than the rain. Brigha stiffened as the brindle mare asked her question, a question she found prying.
"Why do you care?" She snorted, channeling her frustration into a sour tone. It did not matter whether the brindle mare deserved it or not, Brigha wore her unpleasant mood on her coat for the whole world to see. She pinned her ears at the other mare. Why did she care? No one ever cared.
The steady rain gave way to a sudden, deafening downpour. Water cascaded down around the tree as the raindrops slipped through more frequently. Brigha shook her ratted mane as the droplets tapped her neck. It was better being under here than out there, she guessed.
Brigha turned her away from the encroaching mare and sighed. She'd rather look at the drowning grass than this stranger. Truth be told, She felt guilt gnaw at her heart for her sour words. This mare had not wronged her yet, only asked a mere question, but she had all ready spat them from her mouth. However, her heart felt so withered she almost did not care. Almost.
"I'm not hiding," She said spiritlessly. "I'm just... I don't know."
08-13-2016, 02:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-13-2016, 02:08 AM by Raxa.)
Raxa started, clearly off-put by this mare's attitude. Who in her right mind did she think- the brindle snorted a little to clear her thoughts. There was no use in getting angry; it would only result in a fight. And, unusually enough, Raxa was not in the mood for a fight today.
Wow, that was a first. Jedi must be rubbing off on her.
Focusing on the chestnut made to rid her thoughts of the paint stallion, Raxa turned her gaze away, figuring the mare might appreciate the space. Averting eyes alleviated tension, at least in Raxa's experience. The mare would feel less challenged, less violated, which would hopefully ease her abrasive attitude.
"Dunno," Raxa said with a shrug. "Why did you choose to be under this tree? Why did I choose to stand in the rain before coming over here? Just like you don't have an answer to your question, I don't either. Not a good one, anyways. Just thought I'd see what a mare was doing over here by herself. Can't a bored horse do that?" she asked, her blue eyes searching the other mare's for an answer.
The mare went on to explain she wasn't hiding. Raxa gave her a pointed look, "So, you just decided to stand under this tree? Not a fan of the rain?"
08-20-2016, 02:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-20-2016, 02:08 AM by Brigha.)
For each word that came out of this mare's mouth, Brigha felt irritation crawl over her fur like millions of buzzing flies. She turned her head towards, ears still pinned, and went to look her dead in the eye with a sour gaze that could poison a whole river.
"Oh no," She said in the most sweetest, passive aggressive voice she could muster. "I just love to stand under trees for no reason!" The sarcasm was heavy in her tone, much like the rainfall that surrounded them. "And wait around all day for any noisy mares to come sloshing up to stick their nose up my rump!" With that, Brigha's forced smile transformed in a venomous scowl. She gave a loud, deliberate, snort and turned her hindquarter towards the brindle mare, giving her tail a violent swish.
Brigha inhaled sharply and drew out a sigh, forcing her blood cool down before she planted a back hoof on this mare's neck. "I'm standing here because the rain is annoying and I have no where better to stand." She confessed irritably. "There, are you happy? Is your boredom cured?"
"Actually, yeah, somewhat," Raxa replied, giving the mare a hard look. It had appeared the mare was about to kick her, but she hesitated. Why, Raxa didn't know. Maybe she thought it wouldn't be in her best interest to fight a mare of Raxa's caliber, or maybe she didn't want to waste her energy. Either way, no one got hurt from that brief angry altercation.
Moving her head away to avoid the swishing tail, Raxa rolled her eyes before looking at the mare again, staying behind her rather than moving to the front. It showed she was not afraid of getting hurt, and the tone of her voice said that she would gladly fight back if the mare dared to attack her.
"Look. I live in a nice kingdom that has a lot of food and plenty of shelter. It has a lot of nice horses living in it. The king and queen are just, kind rulers. Even if I'll never be a friend of yours, I do think you should give the place a try, see what you think of it. I didn't think I'd like it, but now I couldn't ask for a better home. So, if you want, do you want to come check the place out, see if you'd like to make it your home?" she offered.
Spirit saw the mares.He walked in the the rain.He approached them with caution and made sure they weren't scared of him.He knew it was still breeding season,so he could still claim them.He let out a little friendly whinny to them.
Oh, this couldn't be good. Raxa knew a sound like that anywhere. And it was bad news for her being here. She still technically belonged to a kingdom, and not really a herd, but that didn't mean the stallion wouldn't try. And that sure leaned Raxa wouldn't let him try anything without putting up a fight.
So, in response to the stallion, the brindled mare whipped around, snorting at him, her nostrils flared as she warned him to stay back. She stomped one of her front hooves, her tail flicking back and forth in an angry fashion.
"Get out of here stallion, I know what you want here. You aren't getting her, or me," Raxa snapped, rearing up on her hind legs to ward the stallion off.
"I don't understand?"He wasn't used to mares like this.He was always kind to mares even if they were taken.He stepped a little closer and looked at them.He was careful around them,he didn't want to hurt them or them to hurt him.
|
